


Keeping Secrets From My Many Selves

by dreamiflame



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/F, F/M, Handmaidens, Implied Sexual Content, Morning Sickness, Pregnancy, Revelations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-07 00:06:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16397657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamiflame/pseuds/dreamiflame
Summary: Padmé wasn'tsureshe was actually going to have a baby. These were stressful times, a few mornings spent throwing up everything she eaten the day before was to be expected, right? But her handmaidens aren't the types to let something like that slide.





	Keeping Secrets From My Many Selves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AceQueenKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/gifts).



> Thanks much to my very fast beta.

Padmé woke up feeling her stomach rebel, and scrambled over a still sleeping Dormé to the refresher. She slapped the door lock on her way in, and barely made it to the basin before everything she had eaten at that far too long banquet the night before exited her body.

“My lady?” she heard dimly, over the sound of her heaves, but Padmé was far from being able to respond.

 _So much for keeping it a secret,_ she thought, and then she was too busy with her current predicament to do anymore thinking.

Despite the lock on the ‘fresher, by the time Padmé’s stomach was finally empty, cool, competent hands were holding back her hair. Sabé, Padmé could tell, just from the quality of the silence in the room. A few more heaves and Padmé finally leaned back against the wall and Sabé flushed the basin, then ran cold water onto a cloth and passed it to Padmé.

Padmé wiped her face clean, waiting, because if Sabé was the most patient of women normally, these weren’t exactly normal times. But Sabé just touched the portable mediscan to Padmé's arm and bent her head over the screen.

“My Lady?” Rabé was standing in the doorway with a cup of water. She handed it to Padmé, who rinsed her mouth and spat the water out. Rabé took the cup away and replaced it with another, presumably without the cleaning agent added to the water.

The rest of her handmaidens were huddled in the doorway, practically standing on one another to see her and Sabé. Finally, Dormé said “Sabé? Are we ill?”

“We’re pregnant,” Sabé said, looking up from the screen, and the handmaidens all gasped in nearly the same voice. “And the baby has given us all kinds of new food allergies, which is why Padmé’s been sneaking off in the morning.”

She hadn’t been sure, Padmé told herself. She hadn’t wanted to go to a doctor: her security detail was almost sure at least one attempt on her life came after her medical information was stolen. And this wasn’t something she wanted to get out to the general public: Senator Amidala was publically unwed, and a baby would make her seem more vulnerable, increasing her risk.

True to the practicality of the women Padmé surrounded herself with, their shock wore off quickly. “Give me the allergy list,” Yané said, and headed off presumably to inform the cooks. Rabé helped Padmé stand and cupped her breasts with clinical, impartial hands.

Padmé was sensitive enough even that gentle touch made her gasp. Only the fact she was looking right at Sabe’s face let her see her decoy’s tiny reaction. “Her breasts are already larger,” Rabé announced. Eirtaé nodded and turned away from the door, leaving only Dormé.

Rabé moved over and performed the same impersonal check on Dorme’s breasts. “You won’t have to bind this time,” she said.

Dormé smiled. “Thank the saints,” she said, and looked over Rabé’s shoulder. “We’re very happy for you, my lady,” she told Padmé, and let Rabé lead her off.

Padmé found herself still in the ‘fresher with Sabé, who had set aside the mediscan in favor of turning on the water in Padmé’s luxurious tub. This was a privilege here on overbuilt Coruscant. Not like the free flowing waters of the Lake Country back home on Naboo.

But rank had its privileges, Padmé mused. “I have meetings today,” she said to Sabé.

Sabé moved over to her and started helping Padmé out of her nightclothes. “That’s what Dormé is for. I can’t go, I haven’t been here this week.”

Padmé shivered a little once she was bare. “When did you arrive?”

“Last night,” Sabé said, shedding her own clothes just as efficiently. She stepped into the tub and turned the water off, then held out a hand for Padmé.

Padmé wasn’t scheduled to have a day off for over a week, and the idea of staying here, in a sweet scented tub with the person she trusted most in the galaxy was too tempting to resist. Padmé let herself be helped into the tub, and then settled with her head on Sabé’s shoulder, her back against Sabé’s warm breasts. Despite their position, Padmé knew from experience if any danger entered the ‘fresher, Sabé could and would reverse their positions in less than a heartbeat.

The knowledge only relaxed her further.

Sabé’s hands came to rest lightly on Padmé’s flat stomach, and Padmé tensed despite herself. “You hadn’t told us.”

“I wasn’t sure how you’d react,” Padmé said, honestly. “I haven’t told Anakin, either.”

“Mn,” Sabé said, all the commentary she allowed herself anymore. It wasn’t that Anakin and Sabé disliked each other as such. It was that each knew the other was also someone Padmé loved, and neither was completely sure they were comfortable sharing.

So they never talked about it.

Padmé probably should have worried more over it, but so far, the separation had worked, and that was what mattered to her.

Sabé pressed her lips to Padmé’s ear. “I’m thrilled,” she said. Outside the still half open ‘fresher door Padmé could hear the other handmaidens discussing letting out some of her dresses, and adding extra panels to others. All the ways they would help her keep this child of hers a secret.

All without her having to say a word. She blinked back tears.

“It- this baby will change things,” she said, finally allowing herself the freedom to say it aloud. “Maybe I shouldn’t-”

“Hush,” Sabé said firmly. “You’re keeping it. You’ve always wanted a family of your own. And everything changes. We’ve been dealing with that since we met you.”

A tear escaped, then another. Sabé brushed them away with damp fingers and turned Padmé’s face to her own. “We’ll be fine,” she said, and kissed Padmé gently.

Her kisses were always so sweet Padmé wanted to savor them forever. “You can’t promise that,” she said when they broke for air. “I wouldn’t ask you to.”

Sabé smiled at her and kissed her again. The noise outside died away as Dormé Amidala headed off to Padmé's first meeting of the day, trailed by Moteé and Ellé. The rest of the handmaidens settled down to sew and gossip, if their soft conversation was anything to go by.

“I’ll do my best to keep you, your child, and the others safe,” Sabé said. Padmé swallowed hard and nodded, unable to speak. “Now, the other day my brother by marriage was telling me that the only thing that helped my sister when her stomach was unsettled during the first trimester was making her very happy.”

Her hands slid off Padmé’s belly, one up to cup a breast, the other down to grip at Padmé’s thigh. “Shall we try that?”

To her intense delight, Padmé found out orgasms did indeed settle her stomach. Sabé was only to pleased to help.


End file.
